Haunted
by AklFin2
Summary: "Don't you know it's rude to ask someone how they died?"
1. Chapter 1

The Skidmore family had a tradition of going trick or treating as a family every Halloween year. This year their parents had agreed to let Katherine and her twin brothers go alone as long as they stayed in the neighborhood and stuck together. They were all very excited, though Jonah and Jordan didn't want to admit it. They were at that age where they wanted people to think they were too cool for trick or treating so they went under the excuse of keeping their baby sister safe.

Things had gone normally until Katherine, eager to get the best candy, ran into and through someone. The apology she was already shouting died as she felt only cold air where she should have felt a body. She stopped then whipped around to get a better look at who she had somehow run through.

The man looked normal enough at first glance. He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and jeans. He had short brown hair and green eyes. He was transparent. It was the last fact that made her scream. The ghost looked at her with alarm as she screamed, seeming startled at the situation himself. He was gone by the time Jonah and Jordan ran over to see if she was okay. He just vanished, faded away into nothingness.

—-

JB hated Halloween. This time of year and this night in particular, he felt much more alive than he did the rest of the time. Most of the time he felt strangely faded, like an imitation of someone long gone. But not tonight. This would have been a good thing, if being closer to his life didn't also bring him closer to his death. His chest and throat felt tight, an echo of how he'd died. Of how he'd gasped and gasped for air but was unable to pull any into his lungs. How he grew weaker and weaker as he suffocated. The despair he felt in those moments, knowing he was going to die.

He could almost feel it happening all over again. He took a deep breath, though he no longer needed it. The tightness did not go away. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since then but he wasn't any closer to finding-

His train of thought was broken when a girl ran straight through him. He grimaced at the sensation. It was not a pleasant feeling being passed through. The girl stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face him again with shock written on her face. It took him a moment to realize she was staring at him, and realized that must mean he had turned visible without realizing it at some point. She started screaming and he quickly made himself invisible again as he saw two boys running up to her. Her brothers, probably. He couldn't deal with multiple people seeing him, he wasn't trying to get exorcised anytime soon.

Would an exorcism even work on him? He was a ghost, not a demon. Or at least, he assumed he was a ghost, but he wasn't exactly given a crash course on the afterlife. Either way, he wasn't willing to test it out. Luckily, the brothers didn't seem to believe her story. They would leave him alone then. JB suddenly wasn't so sure if that was lucky at all.


	2. Chapter 2

"Don't you know it's rude to ask someone how they died?"

The voice startled the four of them from their concentration on the board. Jordan screeched and Jonah's expression changed from confident to terrified. Suited them right for doubting her, Katherine thought.

"It worked!" She crowed. She knew the ouija board would come in handy. If anything went wrong, they had salt and some holy water. Well, really it was just regular tap water but they'd prayed over it and that had to count for something.

The ghost did not look impressed.

"Katherine, be careful!" Jonah hissed as she stood up to get a better look at the specter. The ghost frowned at them.

"Look, you're kids- don't worry about any of this," he said, backing up. "Just, focus on school, play sports, whatever it is you do. Don't worry about," he gestured at their set up. "Summoning ghosts!"

"So you are a ghost!" Katherine exclaimed. The man gave her a stern look.

"Just forget you ever saw me," he advised.

And then he was gone.

/.\

Angela DePre had seen a good amount of odd things in her lifetime. She'd seen things appear and disappear in front of her very eyes. She'd met a myriad of strange people and creatures. She knew how to spot fake from genuine supernatural activity from a mile away. She knew Maria and Leo were actual vampires and she'd known this when she allowed two of them to stay in her house (maybe they were bloodthirsty monsters, but they were also children).

So she wasn't sure why she was surprised when four children showed up on her doorstep, telling her they wanted her help with a ghost.

"We saw your YouTube videos," they told her. She blinked, caught off guard by this sudden statement. She'd been intrigued when things had suddenly started appearing and disappearing around the house and she'd decided to try and figure it out herself. She'd done a few videos on the physics of ghosts and hauntings. They were mostly her own thoughts on the subject, based off of the physics she'd studied and taught herself.

Her fiancé had been skeptical when she'd told him about everything, of course being a scientist he found it hard to take her at her word. Her documentation of the random disappearances of objects perturbed him, but Maria and Leo moving in had finally convinced him. He had since been fascinated by the existence of supernatural beings, and Maria and Leo had been subject to his countless questions. Angela's hobby had suddenly become much more professional with Hadley's rigorous documentation, not that they needed it given how they had decided to never publish their findings. She knew how badly Hadley wanted to publish his findings, but there were a million reasons why that was a bad idea. Angela herself had stopped making her videos when she'd realized how dangerous they could be for the people she'd come to care about.

So she wasn't expecting to meet anybody who saw her videos in person, and she certainly wasn't expecting children to track her down based off of them. They'd recognized the background, they said. Angela was torn between feeling creeped out and impressed. Impressed won out in the end and she agreed to listen to what they had to say. If they were just making something up she'd amuse them for a bit and then send them on their way. If they had actually seen a ghost, then well, she'd cross that bridge when she got there.


	3. Chapter 3

Their story seemed to have something to it, so she let the kids lead her to where Katherine had first seen the ghost. When they got there, a man appeared almost immediately, looking a little disgruntled but otherwise non threatening. That was a good sign. Most of the more mischievous or sinister specters didn't show themselves so quickly, and when they did, they usually didn't look so normal. Many choose to specifically alter their forms for a more terrifying appearance. This ghost was dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans, likely the clothes he died in. There was something familiar about his features, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. His expression grew exasperated as he noticed the kids standing behind Angela.

"Did you hear anything I said?" He groaned. Angela decided she should step in before this became a lecture.

"I'm Angela. Could I ask your name?"

The man considered her for a moment.

"My friends call me JB," he said after a bit. He paused and grimaced. "Called me, I mean."

JB. That sounded all too familiar, but surely it couldn't be…

She shoved that train of thought to the back of her mind.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

JB looked at her with some exhaustion.

"Does it matter?"

"We want to know why you're haunting us!" Katherine piped in. Angela sighed. She'd told the kids to let her do the talking, but it seemed they'd taken that as a suggestion.

"Haunting?" He looked confused. "I'm not haunting anyone."

"Then are you doing in our neighborhood? " Katherine accused.

JB only shrugged.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I'm just...looking for someone."

"Who?" Jordan piped in and Angela sent the group of them a stern look. Jordan immediately looked embarrassed.

"My sister, Emily. Do you know her? She's around your age."

As soon as Angela heard him say that, she knew it couldn't be a coincidence. She'd seen him before. JB used to be her fiancé's best friend. Angela remembered she'd met him one night after she'd come home from work and found the two of them hanging out. She'd been tired and hadn't spoken to him much, offering only a brief hello before leaving them to take a much deserved shower. That was the first and last time she saw him. JB and Hadley hadn't spent as much time together after that night, as JB left his job and became a bit of a recluse due to failing mental and physical health. She remembered Hadley speaking about this with a frown, confiding in her his concern over his friend's struggles with schizophrenia and asthma. It was the last one that had proved to be fatal. His death was an unexpected blow and Hadley had been nearly inconsolable for quite some time. Hadley had mentioned that JB had a sister and remarked how hard it must be to lose a brother, especially at her age. Her name was Emily, Angela remembered. It had to be the same person. JB wasn't exactly a common nickname to begin with but how many JBs with sisters named Emily could there possibly be?

Angela distantly heard the conversation continue and pulled herself out of her thoughts.

"Oh Emily! Is that the girl you like Jordan? They kind of look similar!" Katherine squealed.

"Katherine, shut up, that's her brother!" Jonah hissed. Jordan looked like he wouldn't mind becoming invisible at that very moment.

"You know her?" JB looked visibly relieved. "Do you know where she lives now? They must have moved recently, I couldn't find them when I, uh, woke up."

"We can help you! I'm sure Jordan remembers where she lives, they've done some projects together," Katherine reassured him.

Angela finally found her voice.

"You're Hadley's friend," her voice was barely above a whisper. It didn't need to be any louder.

"Angela!" He exclaimed, looking delighted for a moment. Then his face fell. "How's… how's Hadley?"

"He's doing well, now," Angela told him. JB nodded, looking almost disappointed and Angela suddenly felt the need to say more.

"But I know he'd be happy to see you."

JB smiled and Angela felt a surge of relief.

"Okay so we help you find Emily and then- Hadley?" Katherine said, stopping at this name to look to Angela with a questioning look. Angela nodded. Satisfied, Katherine continued on with her proposal.

"We reunite you with Emily and Hadley and you stop haunting us?"

JB chuckled, a look of amused fondness on his face.

"I wasn't haunting you, but okay. It's a deal."

Angela made eye contact with JB and his look of gratitude made her realize how lonely he must have been all that time. She swore to herself that would end now if she could help it.

"You may stop haunting us," she teased. "But that doesn't mean we'll stop haunting you."

She was teasing, yes, but there was also an offer in that statement. JB laughed, but there was a sincerity to his grin that made Angela sure she wouldn't regret it.

/.\

 **A few notes:**

 **If anything is weird in format, or general editing, I was having some technical difficulties so I apologize. Also, I wrote the vast majority of this today, so I'm not entirely satisfied with it as I didn't get to proofread as much as usual. But perfect is the enemy of good and I wanted to get this up on Halloween day, not a week later.**

 **I don't expect to write something for every holiday, but this idea was floating around in my head and I just had to write it. JB being a ghost is a reference to Found where Katherine says she saw a ghost. That ghost turned out to be a time traveler, but I thought it would be fun to explore a universe where JB actually was a ghost. And yes, some day I will write within the canon universe, but today is not that day.**

 **Thank you for reading this far! Happy Halloween!**


End file.
